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- Introduction
In the long history of world ceramics, there has been no single ware more appreciated and imitated than Chinese blue and white porcelain. As a ceramic tradition, it has the longest continuous development in ceramic history, and has acquired a worldwide reputation unmatched by any other Chinese art form. It is perhaps the best known category of all decorative arts. In its more than six hundred years of active production from the 14th century to the present, it has constantly introduced new ideas of decoration and technique. Chinese blue and white porcelain formed an important and popular export ware, and has been imitated in Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, the Near East, Europe and America.
This exhibition will endeavour to exhibit a wide variety of Chinese blue and white porcelains from the various periods of its long history. The main emphasis in this exhibition will be on non-imperial and provincial wares. Several beautiful examples of non-imperial wares, which in many ways rival some of the imperial pieces, are included in the exhibition. There are also a large number of the coarser blue and white porcelains which were made for export throughout Asia and to Europe. The different quality in potting and painting decoration makes an interesting contrast when viewing these pieces together.
Chinese blue and white porcelain represents the successful combination of two long�standing traditions already existing in China. One was the well-established porcelain technology, which dates back to the 7th century. The other was the long tradition of monochrome painting with bold and powerful brushwork. The Chinese brush painter was able to achieve wonderful images by using subtle black and grey shading to give a sense of colour. The ceramic painters of blue and white porcelain applied the cobalt blue in a water medium onto the ceramic body in washes superimposing layer on layer of colour by piling, dribbling and dotting to emphasize form and to achieve some variations in shading. This is particularly evident in the 17th century porcelains with landscape scenes. The same themes such as landscapes, birds and flowers, human figures, etc., can be found in both brush painting and ceramic painting. The landscape scenery on porcelains, convey the same view of nature as expressed by the brush painter. In some cases, actual brush paintings served as models for the decoration of imperial porcelains.
There is another longstanding tradition in China which also may factor in some influence on the early development of underglaze blue porcelain. It is the use of underglaze pig�ments, which dates back to the Tang dynasty (618-906), when the Changsha kilns pro�duced freely applied iron oxide decorations under a buff glaze on stonewares. Underglaze iron oxide painted decorations also occurred on Song period (960-1279) Cizhou and Jizhou stonewares, with a few examples of the latter actually having underglaze blue pigment. Cizhou wares, made for daily use, are not included in the most renowned Song dynasty ceramics. However, it is their type of painted decoration in brown slip and later iron oxide which may have been a source of inspiration for the 14th century blue and white wares. The figural decoration found on some Cizhou pieces is based on episodes of novels or popular stories. Compositions of birds and flowers fill spaces, in a manner, following that of Northern Song dynasty painting. The underglaze decorations on these Song period pieces do have some affinities with early Jingdezhen wares, which developed into the famous blue and white porcelain of the 14th and 15th centuries.
Definition of Blue and White Porcelain
Blue and white wares are porcelains with underglaze cobalt blue painted decorations. It was during the 7th century in China that true porcelain was perfected for the first time. Porcelain is a hard, translucent ceramic ware, usually with a pure white body, fused at high temperature with the aid of a high proportion of feldspar, which causes it to ring when struck.
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